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Feature Comparison
| General | XenForo  | punBB | vBulletin | Beehive Forum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Version |
 1.1.5 |
1.2.14 |
4.1.5 |
1.0.1 |
| Release Date |
5/21/2013 |
2006-10-15 |
2011-07-27 |
14th February 2011 |
| Author |
XenForo Ltd |
PunBB Development Team |
vBulletin Solutions |
Matt Beale, Mark Rendle |
| URL |
xenforo.com |
punbb.org |
www.vbulletin.com |
www.beehiveforum.co.uk |
| Free and Open Source |
 No |
 Yes |
No |
Yes |
| License |
commercial / visible source |
GNU General Public License |
commercial / visible source |
GPL |
| License cost |
$140 |
0 |
$285 Suite or $195 Forum |
0 |
| Programming Language |
PHP |
PHP |
PHP |
PHP |
| UTF-8 Support |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Type |
Flat |
Flat |
Threaded or Flat |
Threaded or Flat |
| Installation method |
wizard |
|
wizard |
wizard |
| Upgrade method |
wizard |
|
wizard with manual interactions |
wizard |
| Data Storage | XenForo | punBB | vBulletin | Beehive Forum |
| MySQL |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Postgres |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Oracle |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| SQLite |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Textfiles |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| other |
NA |
No |
|
|
| Hosting available |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Posts | XenForo | punBB | vBulletin | Beehive Forum |
| BBCode |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| HTML |
No |
 Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
| Emoticons |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Formatting Toolbar |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
| WYSIWYG Editor |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
| Quoting |
Single |
Nested |
Nested |
Nested |
| Syntax Highlighting |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
| Attachments |
Multiple files |
No |
Multiple files |
Multiple files |
| Forums | XenForo | punBB | vBulletin | Beehive Forum |
| Categories |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Subforums |
unlimited |
No |
unlimited |
one level |
| Last Post |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Redirect Forums |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Trashcan Forum |
No |
No |
Yes |
 Optional |
| Anti-Spam and Security | XenForo | punBB | vBulletin | Beehive Forum |
| CAPTCHA |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Optional |
| Groups |
Multiple groups |
One group only |
Multiple groups |
Multiple groups |
| Flood Control |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| ACLs |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Blacklist |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Warnings |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
| Suspension |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| Bans |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| IP-Block |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Audit Logging |
Yes |
|
Yes |
Yes |
| User Reports |
Yes |
|
Yes |
Yes |
| Other |
Advanced Spam Manager "Spam Cleaner", Questions and Answer System |
|
Akismet |
|
| Notification | XenForo | punBB | vBulletin | Beehive Forum |
| RSS/ATOM |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| E-Mail |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Instant Messaging |
No |
0 |
|
|
| Bookmarks |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Community | XenForo | punBB | vBulletin | Beehive Forum |
| Avatars |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| User Ranks |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Rating/Karma System |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
No |
| Signatures |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Users Online List |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Private Messaging |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
| Custom profile fields |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Optional |
| Moderation | XenForo | punBB | vBulletin | Beehive Forum |
| Moderators |
global and forums |
global and forums |
global and forums |
global, forums and threads |
| Move Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Split Threads |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
| Close Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Shadow Topics |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Sticky Threads |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Important Threads |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Search | XenForo | punBB | vBulletin | Beehive Forum |
| Full-text search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Author search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Advanced search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Unread Topics |
Database tracked |
Session tracked |
Database tracked |
Database tracked |
| Customization | XenForo | punBB | vBulletin | Beehive Forum |
| Languages |
English by default, other languages available via the community |
40 |
Official: English, German; Translatable into any language |
English, English (US), German, French (CA), Hacker |
| Templates |
global and forum specific |
global |
global and forum specific |
CSS only |
| Custom BBCodes |
 Plugin |
Patch |
Yes |
No |
| Skin-Editor |
Yes |
Plugin |
Yes |
Yes |
| Smiley Packs |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
| Plugins |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| Special Features | XenForo | punBB | vBulletin | Beehive Forum |
| Statistics |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Polls |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
Yes |
| Calendar |
No |
Patch |
Yes |
No |
| Friendly URLs |
Yes |
Patch |
Yes |
No |
| Data Management | XenForo | punBB | vBulletin | Beehive Forum |
| Pruning |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Archiving |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
| Export Formats |
NA |
|
Single Table CSV, Single and Multi-Table SQL |
|
| Export private messages |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Lo-Fi View |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Last updated | 2013-05-22 | 2007-02-15 | 2011-08-26 | 2011-11-13 |
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